A black and white historical photograph of a classroom filled with children sitting at wooden desks, facing the front of the room. A man in a dark suit stands behind a central podium in front of a large blackboard covered in Japanese kanji and hiragana calligraphy. To his right, another man in a suit stands near the wall. The children, many of whom are girls with large bows in their hair, are seated in organized rows. A piano is visible on the far left, and simple light bulbs hang from the ceiling.

A Century of Community Spirit

Location:

Vancouver Japanese Language School
487 Alexander Street
Vancouver, BC

Discover the important role played by the Vancouver Japanese Language School in the early days of Vancouver. First opened in 1906, the school was an important educational and cultural centre for the Powell Street community.

Powell Street was the pre-war business centre of the Japanese community in Vancouver. The street was vibrant, busy and filled with Japanese people – in the busy open vegetable markets, the regular baseball games played by the Asahi ball team in Oppenheimer Park, the taxi company, the Japanese and English language newspapers, cafés, boarding houses, traditional bath houses, drug stores, department stores, and special Japanese food businesses, making tofu or manju. We invite you to discover the many monogatari (tales) of Powell Street.

Supported by Vancouver125, BC Arts Council, Vancouver Foundation, National Association of Japanese Canadians.